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Standard Operating Procedures for Dealing with Specimens of Human Origin and/or Potentially Infectious and/or Hazardous substances (including animal blood or tissues) 1.1 All work with biohazardous materials, whether teaching or research, requires prior approval from the Biosafety and Radiation Safety Committee (BRSC). For details refer to following web address: http://www.uws.edu.au/about/adminorg/devint/ors/ethics/biosafety 1.2 All biohazardous material should be treated as potentially infectious, irrespective of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or Hepatitis B virus (HBV) status, and be handled using ‘standard precautions’. Standard Precautions (formerly known as Universal Precautions) are precautions designed to reduce the risk of injury, illness, contamination or infection when handling human blood and body fluids or other materials contaminated with these. Standard precautions should be used to develop safe/standard operating procedures appropriate to the type of work or learning carried out within a laboratory or associated facility. Refer to NOHSC:2010(2003) & NSW Department of Health Infection Control Policy. 1.3 Any person handling human specimens are recommended to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B virus. Vaccination may be considered for other human pathogens, if personnel are required to work closely with such pathogens. 1.4 Any person handling biohazardous material must receive instruction and training in the safe handling, storage, transport and disposal of such material, and in emergency procedures in the event of exposure and spills. Training should be regularly updated and documented. 1.5 Work with biohazardous material must be carried out in designated areas as approved by the BRSC. These areas should have appropriate biohazard signage. 1.6 Mechanical pipetting, not mouth pipetting, must be used for the manipulation of all liquids in the laboratory. 1.7 Eating, drinking, smoking and storage of food or drink is prohibited in the laboratory or in any designated areas. 1.8 Disposable laboratory coats are to be used in all student practical classes when unscreened human blood and /or fluids are being handled. Laboratory coats or gowns (buttoned up) and safety glasses must be worn while working with any other biohazardous material, and removed when leaving the laboratory. A mask may be necessary, where appropriate. Where there is any possibility of aerosol generation, that the work is conducted in a biological safety cabinet. Garments, which are known or are suspected, to have been contaminated with biohazardous material must be autoclaved before laundering. 1.9 Cover all cuts and other abrasions on the hands with suitable waterproof dressing. 1.10 Disposable gloves must be worn to avoid skin contact with blood or other fluids, as well as surfaces, materials and objects exposed to them. Gloves may be required to be removed and replaced during laboratory sessions, and must be removed on completion of laboratory tasks. Gloves should also be removed and hands washed before using a telephone or when performing any office work. Gloves must be disposed of in biohazard bags. 1.11 Hands must be thoroughly washed with soap and water following completion of laboratory activities, following removal of protective clothing and before leaving the laboratory, and immediately if they become contaminated with blood or body fluids. 1.12 Procedures that produce aerosols, such as sonication, mixing, washing, etc, should be avoided in the open laboratory. Biological safety cabinets Class I – (Australian Standards) AS 2252.1 or Class II – AS 2252.2 or other primary containment devices such as sealed centrifuge tubes should be used to minimize exposure and spread of the potentially infectious material. 1.13 Any centrifugation of materials must be done in sealed tubes inside sealed buckets or rotors in the centrifuge. 1.14 Sharp instruments such as scalpel blades, as well as needles and syringes, must be placed in rigid-walled puncture-proof "sharps" containers for disposal in the contaminated waste disposal service. Needles must be discarded unsheathed immediately after use. 1.15 Glassware must be decontaminated by soaking in 0.5% fresh sodium hypochlorite solution or by autoclaving before washing up. Pasteur pipettes ('disposable'): small numbers may be put in sharps containers. Larger numbers should be decontaminated, e.g. by 0.5% fresh sodium hypochlorite, and disposed of as broken glass. 1.16 Waste contaminated with human material (non-sharps) must be placed in yellow contaminated waste bags and put into the biological waste bin for collection. 1.17 Work surfaces must be decontaminated with 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution or, in the case of metal surfaces, 80% (v/v) ethanol, following any spill of potentially infectious material, and routinely with 0.05% sodium hypochlorite solution when work is finished. Ensure that contact time and other circumstances allow the disinfectant to be effective. 1.18 Special precautions must be taken to ensure that reading and writing materials do not become contaminated. These should be separate from the work bench. 1.19 Transport of potentially infectious and biohazardous substances or material within or out of a laboratory must be done in a primary leak proof and sealable container (snap-top lids are inappropriate) sealed inside a leak proof secondary container, which can be readily decontaminated. 1.20 All laboratories working with biohazardous material must have a *spill kit available and accessible in the area. Spills must be dealt with immediately. 1.21 The contents of spill kits will be determined by the biohazardous materials used in a laboratory. For example, it may contain the following: Protective clothing, chemically resistant gloves, rubber boots, safety glasses/face shields and respirators if required; Containment material to contain the spill such as commercially available chemical booms, or clean dry sand; Material to absorb the spill such as absorbent towel, clean dry sand, or material as described above (the material must be compatible with the substance to be absorbed); Appropriate containers to store the absorbed waste material, such as biohazard bags; Warning signs and barriers; Disinfectant or reagents for decontamination such as sodium hypochlorite, iodophors, ethanol; Portable ventilation equipment. Emergency procedures: Call 000 for FIRE, AMBULANCE OR POLICE SERVICES and / or UNIVERSITY SECURITY ON 2300 FOR ASSISTANCE 1.22 Where an incident has occurred in a laboratory with an injury or exposure of personnel, priority shall be given to the care of the injured and the minimization of the risk of possible infection. First aid should be applied by trained personnel, ensuring that they do not risk being infected. If necessary, medical aid should be sought. 1.23 The aims of biohazardous spills management are to: apply standard precautions, including use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE); confine and contain the spill; clear up spills before the area is cleaned or disinfected (adding cleaning liquids or disinfectants to spills increases the size of the spill); avoid generation of aerosols from spilled material during clean up. 1.24 If a spill of biohazardous material has occurred, outside of a biological safety cabinet, the following must be done immediately: confine the area and assess the degree of the spill and subsequent potential contamination; ensure that appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is available and used; for small spills (i.e. spots or drops of blood, or spills less than 10cm diameter), absorb with paper towel or other absorbent material, clean with warm water and detergent, and disinfect the area with an appropriate liquid disinfectant; for large spills (i.e. greater than 10cm diameter) minimise the potential of inhaling the aerosol, vacate the laboratory, shut the laboratory door and place appropriate signs to warn other people of the hazard; remove any contaminated clothing (including laboratory coat and gloves) and place them in a contaminated waste bag; wash face and hands and put on clean PPE; notify the technical manager of the incident so that a designated clean up team can be formed if necessary; cover the spill with enough dry material to absorb the spill (appropriate material includes absorbent paper towel, clean dry sand, commercial pads or absorbents--the material must be compatible with the substance to be absorbed); place all material used in the clean up into impermeable plastic waste bags and dispose of as contaminated waste; clean the contaminated area with warm water and neutral detergent; the spill area can now be disinfected with an appropriate liquid disinfectant (in most cases 0.5-1.0% fresh sodium hypochlorite is suitable). the spill area can be disinfected by gently placing absorbent paper towels saturated with disinfectant onto the spill area allowing the recommended time for the disinfectant to take effect; wipe over, with disinfectant, any other adjoining surfaces that may have become contaminated by splashing; ensure that the affected area is left clean and dry; remove and autoclave protective clothing worn during the clean-up; do not autoclave any materials that have been soaked with hypochlorite solution due to the risk of toxic gas being produced; ensure that spill kits are adequately restocked after each use; the incident should be reported and documented. an incident report form is to be completed and forwarded to the OHS & R Office and a copy shall be sent to the Head of School. refer to the UWS Laboratory Safety Guidelines for guidance on needle-stick injuries and other biological hazard exposures and/or the " Biological Hazard Emergency Action Plan (these documents are available at http://www.uws.edu.au/about/adminorg/corpserv/ohr/occupationalhealthsafety andwelfare/labsafe).